Archive
SQL Azure Import/Export Service has been released to Production
SQL Azure Import/Export Service has been released to Production as of today!!!
SQL Azure Import/Export Service is available at free of charge for SQL Azure customers.
For more information visit the following blog post
Manage SQL Azure server using PowerShell
Windows Azure Platform Powershell Cmdlets has been released and available for download at http://wappowershell.codeplex.com/releases/view/73463
It supports creating SQL Azure server, removing an existing SQL Azure server, managing the firewall and resetting the Administrator password.
For more detailed information, please visit
How to create Co-Administrator for SQL Azure Server ?
SQL Azure Co-Administrator option has been released in July 2011 Service Release
In this article, we will see How to add a Co-Administrator for your subscription
After logging in to Windows Azure Management Portal, click on “Database” tab
After navigating to Database section, click on “User Management” in Tool bar
In User Management screen, You can see the currently available Service Administrators and Co-Administrator for all available subscriptions
Click on “Add New Co-Admin”
In Add New Co-Administrator screen, specify the new users’ Windows Live ID and then select the subscription he can administer and then click “Ok”
Now we have successfully created a new Co-Administrator, Now he can login and create or drop servers, create or drop databases and new co-administrators as well
To remove a subscription or remove a Co-Administrator, click on Co-Administrator name and then click on “Manage Co-Admin”
If you have multiple subscriptions, you can remove the subscription which the co-admin should not manage, if you remove all subscriptions, the co-admin account will be removed automatically.
Now let us login using Co-Administrator login and see how the users are displayed
Since the Co-Administrator already has a subscription, he is displayed as Service Administrator for one of the account and Co-Administrator for other account.
Hope you all find this information helpful !!!
SQL Azure Management Portal Changes–Drop SQL Azure Server
Today while working on SQL Azure Management Portal, I found this new change
While Dropping a server, currently its prompting for Server to confirm that we are deleting the right server
If you type the correct server name, then “Drop” button is enabled
The Drop button doesn’t get enabled until you type the server name correctly
This looks like a small change, but this will be great preventive method to avoid any disaster of dropping the server by mistake !!!
Windows Azure Team announces next release for SQL Azure–July 2011 Service Release
SQL Azure July 2011 Service Release will be released in the upcoming weeks in all datacenters.
The important features in this release will be
1. SQL Azure Engine upgrade to increase overall performance and scalability
2. Co-Administrator Support for SQL Azure
3. Increase capability for using Spatial Data Types
You also need to update SQL Server 2008 R2 Management Studio to SP1, you can download it from the below link
SQL Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 – Management Studio x64 – Download
SQL Server 2008 R2 Service Pack 1 – Management Studio x86 – Download
For more information about this release please read the announcement from Windows Azure Team Blog
Compare and Synchronize SQL Azure to/from SQL Server using Optillect Data Compare SQL
Optillect Data Compare SQL is a new tool which compares and synchronizes data in tables or views for SQL Azure to SQL Server and vice versa.
Key features are
1. Support all version of SQL Server (2000 to Denali and SQL Azure)
2. Support for filtering data
3. Command Line interface available for automation
4. Lightweight, easy to install and use
5. Low price when compared to industry standard competitors. Currently priced as $195, if you upgrade from competitor product, you can buy it for $39
For full list of features visit http://optillect.com/products/datacomparesql/features.html
Let us see How to use this tool to Synchronize data from SQL Server to SQL Azure
After downloading the tool, double click the setup to run
Click “Next” to proceed
Select “I accept the agreement” and click “Next” to proceed
Click “Next” to proceed
If required, change Shortcut folder or Click “Next” to proceed
Click “Next” to proceed
Click “Install” to confirm and proceed
Once installation is completed, select “Launch Optillect Data Compare SQL” and click “Finish” to complete installation and start the program.
By default a new Data Compare project will be created, with the following options
Based on your Sync direction select Azure or SQL Database for Source and Target.
For SQL Server Database, Specify Server Name, authentication and then select Database
For SQL Azure Database, specify Server Name, select Host, specify username and password credential and then select Database.
Once Source and Target database is defined, click “Next”
In options screen, you can specify How to compare the data such as Object Name Matching, Exclusion Criteria, etc..
Please refer to the following screen for further Comparison options
If you have a bigger database, I highly recommend you to use “Compress data cache” option and also to specify the Data cache directory to a drive where there is plenty of space available according to your database size.
Based on your computer CPU configuration, you can increase the comparison threads as well
After completing the options configuration, click “Next” to proceed
In this screen, by default it maps the schema by its name, if you want to customize it, you can reset the mapping or use Unmap option to unmap it and then select the source and target schema and map it
Once Schema mapping is completed, click “Next” to proceed
In Object Mapping screen, by default you will see all objects mapped automatically by its name, you can unmap them and change the mapping based on your requirement
You can click on the Column Pairs link to customize the mapping at column level, for ex. to exclude a field from data compare
You can filter the data for comparison, using “WHERE clause…” option, you can directly enter the SQL Where clause Criteria and click on “Validate” to verify the criteria works or not
Once Where Clause is defined, click “Ok” to proceed and then click “Compare Now” to start the comparison process
Once the data comparison is completed, the above results will be displayed. You can see the data in the results pane
You can generate the Data comparison report using “Build Report…” option from toolbar, you can generate report in 3 formats, HTML, XML or CSV.
Please see the below sample HTML report
To synchronize the data, click on “Synchronization Wizard…”, to save the script for reference, select “Save synchronization to file” option
Click “Next” to specify the options
You can specify whether to create a backup of the target database before update the data and also specify what transaction isolation level to be used.
After specifying required options, click “Next” to review the action plan
In Action Preview, you can see the steps of data synchronization process, once review click “Synchronize Now!” to proceed
Once Synchronization is complete, you will see the above screen, with time elapsed, you can use “Recompare databases” option to verify if the data comparison worked without any issues.
If you want to automate this synchronization process, you can use “Save BAT file with CMD line” option from File Menu,
Using this option will generate a batch file looking similar to below, using this batch file, you can schedule a windows scheduler task to run the sync on your specific required schedules.
Advantages:
1. Easy to use
2. Lightweight
3. Faster
4. Price is comparable cheaper than industry standard competitors
I hope you all find this information useful !!!
Programmatically Managing SQL Azure using REST API
In May 2011 SQL Azure Service Update 7, SQL Azure Management REST API was released.
SQL Azure Management REST API can be used for
- Create SQL Azure server – http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg715274.aspx
- Delete SQL Azure Server – http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg715285.aspx
- Reset Administrator Password for SQL Azure Server – http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg715272.aspx
- Get List of SQL Azure Servers available in the subscription – http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg715269.aspx
- Create Firewall Rules for specified SQL Azure Server – http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg715280.aspx
- Delete Firewall Rules for specified SQL Azure Server – http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg715277.aspx
- Get List of Available Firewall Rules for specified SQL Azure Server – http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg715278.aspx
- Currently it support Synchronous calls, there is no support Asynchronous calls.
All calls should be authenticated using X.509 Certificate and this certificate should be added as Management Certificate in Management Portal
Please read this article on How to create a Certificate http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg432987.aspx
Hope you all find this information useful !!!
